The Master of Science Degree Program

INTRODUCTION

These guidelines are intended to help familiarize graduate students in the Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Applied Mathematics program with the policies governing this degree program. All the guidelines apply to both the on-campus M.Sc. degree and the on-line M.Sc. degree, unless otherwise specified. This material supplements the Graduate School Regulations and Degree Requirements, and the Instructions, Policies and Procedures for and about Graduate Students. Students are expected to be familiar with these procedures and regulations.

Most full-time students obtain the M.Sc. degree in one year. Some full-time students spend two years, by taking more courses than the minimum requirements, or by writing a thesis. Part-time students generally complete it over a longer period of time.

REQUIREMENTS

The M.Sc. Program is intended to give the student a working knowledge of several areas of Applied Mathematics, which may include a specific area of application, in order to prepare for a productive career in industry or elsewhere, or to prepare the student for continuing towards a Ph.D. degree. The Graduate School and the Department require a minimum of 36 credits for the M.Sc. degree. The following are the requirements to be met:

• Core course list: Students are required to take all three of AMATH 567 (Complex Variables), AMATH 568 (Ordinary Differential Equations) and AMATH 569 (Partial Differential Equations). Substitution of any of these courses with AMATH 401, AMATH 402 and AMATH 403, respectively, is permitted. Either AMATH 581 (Scientific Computation) or AMATH 584 (Numerical Analysis 1) is also required.

• Seminar/Journal Club/Independent Study requirement: Students are required to enroll in 4 credits worth of AMATH 500 (Journal Club), AMATH 501 (Seminar) or AMATH 600 (Independent Study) spread over at least two quarters.

• A minimum of 24 credit hours must be taken from the AMATH Curriculum.

• M.Sc. students must take a minimum of 8 numerically graded courses. The overall GPA in these courses must be at least 3.2 on a 4.0 maximum scale.

• At the start of every quarter, the program of study of any on-campus M.Sc. student must be approved by the student's faculty advisor and the graduate program coordinator, so as to ensure that studies progress satisfactorily and degree requirements are met. The program of study of on-line students has to be approved by the graduate program coordinator. Students should use the Masters Degree Program Plan form for this.

• Final Examination: the Graduate School requirement for the Final Examination is satisfied by an oral presentation by the candidate to be evaluated by his or her Graduate Committee (consisting of two members of the AMATH faculty) on a current topic of interest from the literature or on the results of original research.

  It is the student's responsibility to make certain that all deadlines set by the Graduate School are met in order to graduate at the expected completion of study.

Students who wish to be excused from any of these requirements should petition the department.

THESIS OPTION

(Not available for the on-line program)

Students in the on-campus M.Sc. program may wish to complete a M.Sc. thesis. The requirements to do so are in addition to those mentioned above. Students should register for no less than 9 credits of AMATH 700 (Independent Study) with a thesis advisor and submit a written thesis. Four of these credits may be counted towards the Seminar/Journal Club/Independent Study requirement. For students in the thesis option, the oral presentation requirement is satisfied by an oral defense of the M.Sc. thesis.

ADMISSION TO THE PH.D. PROGRAM

If a student in the M. Sc. Program is interested in continuing on towards a Ph. D. degree in the department, he/she is expected to formally make his/her intention known to the Graduate Program Coordinator by February 1 of the year before they intend to start the Ph.D. program. The Graduate Program Coordinator and the AMATH faculty will consider their application together with those of other applicants to the Ph.D. program. Students will be notified of their admission status (including possible financial aid) no later than April 30.